Heir To The Dark Lord (Year 5)
by JosieVang2
Summary: As Bastila and Daphne's fifth year of Hogwarts begins, they find themselves surrounded by darkness, both familiar and unfamiliar. Their fight against the darkness that threatens to consume them will test their relationship, their will to survive, and their very souls. But though the darkness may come in many forms, so too, does the light...
1. A New Day

Bastila opened her eyes, and she gasped.

She was laying in a soft bed. Her head was on a wonderfully fluffy pillow, and she was under a cotton blanket.

And it was all BLUE!

Bastila looked around the room, and found that the walls were blue, as well. So was the dresser across the room. And the carpet. And the nightstand beside Bastila's bed.

'When you get me a bed...It all needs to be blue...Blue is my favorite color...' She remembered telling Severus.

So then was Bastila in Snape Manor? With her father? With Daphne? Sarah and Elsa?

The sunlight was streaming in through an open window, gently billowing the, predictably, blue, curtains. Severus really seemed to have gone overboard with the whole 'Blue is my favorite color' thing during his furnishing...

Then Bastila had a horrible thought. Had she fallen into a coma AGAIN? Was that why it was daylight now, and why she was in Snape Manor when JUST BEFORE she had closed her eyes it had been night, and she had been at Hogwarts fighting against an unstoppable wave of Werewolves?

Bastila thought about the voice. The girl in her head. The voice that had finally become clear. The voice had told Bastila that she would take care of everything, and that when Bastila opened her eyes again, everyone she loved would be safe.

Had the voice lied to her? Had she been unable to fulfill her promise? Who was the girl in her head, anyway? Why was she there? What was she?

'Okay, focus Bastila. How long has it been since the night of the third task, and are the people I love safe? Those are the first things I need to find out. The rest can come later. First order of business...' Bastila thought to herself.

She pulled her blanket off and looked herself over. 'Okay, I'm still fourteen. Hopefully. My body doesn't feel TOO different. Or maybe not. I might be fifteen or sixteen, and I probably wouldn't even be able to tell...'

Bastila swung her feet off the side of the bed and sat up. She was wearing a, yes, a BLUE, sheer, strapless, floor-length nightgown.

She put her feet on the floor and stood up. She twisted and turned every which way, and found that her body still seemed to be in perfect condition.

'That rules out a lot of time passing, I think. It's not like my coma, where I was weak and unsteady and everything else.'

Bastila walked over to the window, squinting against the sun as she looked outside. She could see grassy hills and fields.

'It's early afternoon. I can feel that much. The atmosphere doesn't feel like morning. No chirping birds, no slight chill. The sun is fully up in the sky, too. But not so much that it'd be considered evening.'

*Bastila?* Came Nyssa's hissing voice about two inches from Bastila's face.

Bastila stepped back from the window, and Nyssa became visible. Nyssa flew in through the window and landed on Bastila's bed, folding her wings around herself with great care.

Bastila went over to the bed and sat down on it.

Nyssa didn't speak for several moments.

Bastila got tired of the silence. "Alright, how long was I out THIS TIME? A month? A year? Two years? Two years is my highest guess."

Still, Nyssa was quiet.

Bastila felt a cold dread slither into her throat. "Is...Is someone...Dead? Daphne?"

*No!* Nyssa shook her head fiercely. *I'm sorry, Bastila. I am just very surprised to see you again.* Nyssa stared at Bastila for a long moment, then she continued on. *No one that you love has died while you were...Asleep, and you have been asleep for only one week.*

*Oh thank god, because I did NOT want to have to go through that shit again.* Bastila said, laughing loudly with relief. *So, it's the second week of summer now?*

*It's only Saturday, so it is between the first and second weeks of summer.* Nyssa replied patiently.

Bastila nodded her understanding. *So why did I lose time again?*

Again, Nyssa was quiet for an annoyingly long time.

Bastila sighed. *What AREN'T you telling me? Where's Daphne, and Sev, and Sarah and Elsa? What happened after the Third Task? What happened to Hogwarts, to the other champions, to the students? What happened to Karkaroff?* Bastila was unable to stop herself now. She needed to KNOW. *How come what happened to me was so much like my coma, but without all the horrible side effects? One second, I'm surrounded by Werewolves and...The next, I'm here.* Bastila felt it best not to mention the voice in her head.

*Daphne is with her cousin, Elsa. Sarah is working at St. Mungos Hospital, and Severus is at a meeting with the Headmaster.* Nyssa answered after Bastila had exhausted herself of her questions. *I was just out hunting for food.*

*Spare me the details.* Bastila pretended to gag, and she almost really DID gag after she had a moment of imagining Nyssa swallowing a rabbit whole.

*You think how I eat is gross? I have to watch you Humans mash your teeth and-*

*So what else is going on? What else has happened?* Bastila interrupted, smiling slightly.

*Karkaroff was taken into Ministry custody and put into Azkhaban hours after the Third Task. I told Headmaster Dumbledore what I had seen, and of my suspicions.* Nyssa said quietly. *Many students died that night, Bastila. As did many parents and relatives of students. It was a bloodbath. The Ministry had to send in a great many Aurors to help with the situation. The other champions all survived except for Fleur Delacour. Her body was found in the maze the morning after. At least, what was left of it.*

'And I chose to abandon the other champions. I abandoned them to go make sure my loved ones were alive and safe...' Bastila thought, her heart wrenching.

*The Aurors and Healers judged her to have been one of the first to be killed that night. Before you decided we should leave the maze.* Nyssa said gently, as if she had sensed what Bastila had been thinking.

*You weren't in a coma again, Bastila.* Nyssa changed the subject abruptly. *You were in a state of...Non-being. You simply were not there, in your own conciousness.*

Bastila shook her head. *I don't get it.*

*Someone else...Has been present, in control of your body, this past week. Ever since the night of the third task. When this other person took control over your body, your conciousness was put into a type of stasis. That is why it seems as if everything has changed for you in the blink of an eye. You don't have any recollection of anything in-between because you were...Frozen.*

*That voice...* Bastila murmured. *I've been hearing a voice, or several voices, I think, in my head...All my life, honestly. I've felt things I shouldn't feel at times. I've...Gotten upset over things I really shouldn't have.* She looked at Nyssa. *Are you saying that all these things haven't been MY feelings, or MY thoughts? They're someone elses? Because...I spoke to someone else in my head, that night. She told me she'd help me...She said if I closed my eyes and let her help me, that I'd open them again and everyone I love would be safe. So...*

Bastila trailed off, taking a breath. *That was what she meant. She took control over me, over my body.*

Nyssa nodded her head slowly. *Yes. She calls herself Crystal.*

*How many others have...Been switching out with my body?* Bastila asked, her voice wavering. So many things in her life were becoming clearer now, and she had to think slowly and calmly about it all. She needed to take her time processing everything.

*Only Crystal.*

*What has she been doing? What's she like?* Bastila's mind flashed back to the river when she was a child. Her magic HADN'T pulled her out of the water, then. She had been aware of being in the water, and then she hadn't been. Just like so many other times in her life. Just like the night of the third task, and now.

Crystal had saved her.

These massive gaps in Bastila's memories weren't NORMAL, as she had always thought them to be.

*She is a level-headed and calm individual, for the most part.* Nyssa said, sissing with laughter.

*And when she's not?* Bastila prodded, smiling again.

*She is capable of great anger at the slightest of offenses, and she can be very impulsive.* Nyssa said carefully. *It was difficult for any of us to tell what side of Crystal we'd be dealing with at any given time. It was very random.*

Bastila fell back on her bed and set a hand on Nyssa's scaly body. *So...I was talking to her, that night?*

*Yes. But after Crystal obtained full control that night, she let loose on the Werewolves.* Nyssa paused, as if remembering something else. *She changed. She almost killed everyone else along with the Werewolves. She used Fiendfyre, as well as several blasting and killing curses. There was no regard for anyone else. She only wanted to kill the Werewolves, and she didn't care who she hurt or killed in the process.*

Bastila frowned. *But she told me she would protect everyone...*

Wait. Had Crystal actually promised Bastila that, that night? No. She hadn't.

'Help me save everyone...Help me kill the Werewolves.' Had been Bastila's exact words to Crystal.

And Crystal had responded with 'Close your eyes...And everyone you love will be safe...'

Crystal had taken 'Everyone' to mean 'The people I love'.

But hadn't Bastila meant exactly that when she had pleaded with Crystal? Even if Bastila hadn't explicitly said it, hadn't Crystal understood what she was really asking?

Could Bastila really be so surprised at what Crystal had done?

*She DID protect a select few.* Nyssa amended, confirming Bastila's suspicions. *Yourself, Severus, Sarah, Daphne, and Elsa and myself.*

*Is there any food around?* Bastila asked suddenly, her thoughts grinding to a halt. She decided that she really didn't need to try and work through everything right now. It could wait until later.

*Come with me.* Nyssa hissed, floating off the bed and over to Bastila's bedroom door.

*There's just one more thing I want to ask you about all this.* Bastila said as she followed Nyssa out into a long hallway. *Why am I back in control? And why a week later?*

*Crystal said that she wasn't needed anymore, and that she had kept her promise.* Nyssa said simply.

'Yes,' Bastila thought, following Nyssa through the massive mansion that she now called home. 'Crystal kept her promise, no matter how messy things got. No matter what she did to achieve it. She still kept it. I'm thankful for that.' Bastila thought back to the times over the last year where she had felt an impossible, burning rage within herself at the slightest of things, and to the times where she had felt a sick sense of pleasure in watching Harry Potter in pain.

Bastila was incredibly thankful that she didn't have any memory of Crystal's actions during the night of the Third Task. Just feeling Crystal's EMOTIONS all those times before was enough to make Bastila shudder.

She would have to be very careful in asking Crystal for any help, in the future, Bastila decided. She would need to be careful of what and HOW she said things to Crystal. And Bastila would have to ask Crystal to stop channeling her emotions through Bastila whenever Bastila was in control.

In a way, though, this relieved Bastila.

She HADN'T been going slowly insane. She HADN'T been losing her mind. She had just been feeling the emotions of another person living inside of her and mistaking those emotions for her own.

Another person with very, very strong emotions.

Bastila arrived in the kitchen.

It was large and spacious, and things were almost randomly placed around the room. A long dining table was pushed up against a wall, and five chairs were horribly spaced around it. Dishes lay on the counters, and boxes and cans of food were strewn out. In short, it was a mess. Bastila would have to teach Severus the importance of symmetry and organization when he returned home from his meeting.

'Oh, yes,' Bastila thought as she opened the fridge and saw the horrific food and drinks that were practically jammed in every which way JUST to fill up the space. 'I'm definitely going to have to have WORDS with daddy when he gets back...'

*How did you do?* Bastila asked once she had sat down at the table with several sandwiches, a glass of juice, and another glass full of milk.

Nyssa raised her wings in imitation of a shrug. *I don't know what you mean.*

*The night of the Third Task.* Bastila elaborated. *A giant snake versus Werewolves. You'd think the Werewolves would have won.*

*I'm nothing if not resilient. However, it was mostly thanks to your protective spells that I survived that night at all.*

*I remember casting those. After the first task.* Bastila said, smiling a little.

*You should cast a few more.* Nyssa sniffed. She lifted her right wing and lay it over the table in front of Bastila. There were healed over scratches and bite wounds everywhere, and the feathers on her wing were clumped up oddly in places. *The spells weren't strong enough to hold out against the Werewolves forever. They broke through the enchantments toward the end of the battle.*

*Oh, Nyssa...*

*You should be glad that I'm not going to turn into a Were-Snake.* Nyssa joked.

*Do those exist?* Bastila asked uncertainly.

Nyssa shook her head. *Not as far as I know.* She withdrew her wing, and Bastila continued to eat in silence, only breaking it to ask a casual question or two of Nyssa.

*Hey Nyssa, why do you have wings if you fly with magic?* Bastila had asked at one point in her meal.

*Why do you have toes if you walk on the bottoms of your feet?* Nyssa had responded, her voice laced with amusement.

Bastila hadn't known how to respond to that.

When Bastila finished her meal, she wandered the Manor with Nyssa, getting the grand tour. Bastila made small talk with Nyssa. Teasing and jokes, mostly. Bastila figured that she could afford to laugh and have fun, now that they were all safe and sound in the summer. But Bastila couldn't stop her thoughts from straying to Daphne, Severus, Sarah, and Elsa. The people she loved. She KNEW they were safe, KNEW they were alive and well, because Bastila had been told so by Nyssa. But Bastila still wanted to see them, wanted to hug them and kiss them and see them with her own two eyes.

Bastila didn't have to wait long. At least, not when it came to Severus. She had been in her room with Nyssa, talking about nothing in particular when the door had opened and Severus had stepped in.

He stood in the doorway for a moment, staring at Bastila. And in that moment, Bastila knew that he knew it was really her and not Crystal. Bastila slipped off the bed and practically threw herself at Severus, hugging him around the waist with a squeal of "Daddy!".

He didn't need to say it, but he said it anyways. "You're back." He murmured, wrapping his arms around her and stroking her hair as if it were the most natural thing in the world for him.

He let her go after a few moments and moved to step away. And then Bastila was burying her face in Severus's chest, clutching at him with a sudden intensity that scared herself. "I'm home." She whispered.


	2. Visitation Rights Revoked

In the last week of June, Bastila and Daphne stood in a dark hallway, just outside an old, worn down hospital room door.

"Are you ready?" Bastila stared at Daphne, inspecting her closely.

Daphne betrayed nothing. She just smiled. "As ready as I'll ever be."

Bastila briefly considered using Legillimency, in case Daphne was lying. She needed to know Daphne's true state of mind, because last weeks visit with Astoria hadn't gone well at all.

Bastila remembered it vividly, and she almost wished she could forget it. The blood, the bed laying on its side, the sheets and blankets strewn about on the floor...

Bastila shook her head to clear away the memories. She would need a clear head today for their third, and hopefully better, visit with Astoria. And it would also be the first time Bastila would accompany Daphne in. Bastila had argued against the idea, but those arguments had died the instant she had seen the desperation in Daphne's eyes.

Daphne was willing to try anything to help her sister.

That was all the more apparent when they entered the little room.

"Hey, sis! How've you been?" Daphne said loudly, with forced cheer.

Astoria's room was very different than it had been on their previous two visits.

The bed was upright again, pushed up into a corner. The sheets and blankets were perfectly smooth, and tucked in so tightly around the edges of the bed that Bastila wondered just how long Astoria had spent making her bed.

And then there was Astoria herself. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, feet flat, hands on her knees, staring at the wall.

And then she wasn't.

Astoria looked at Daphne. Then her eyes went to Bastila.

"What ARE you?" She said at last. "You're not a doctor."

Bastila was surprised to hear her speak coherently. And she made eye contact for a few moments, as normal as anyone. Astoria still stared with those wide, unblinking eyes of hers, but already it was a vast improvement when compared with her previous behaviors.

Bastila took a breath, glancing sideways at Daphne. "I'm, well...Your sister's Girlfriend."

"Why are you here?"

"I'm just...I want to do whatever I can to help you get better and get out of here and make a life for yourself, like your sister wants for you."

Astoria kept staring, but now it seemed unfocused, as if she were looking through Bastila rather than at her. Her eyes flickered, and then she was looking at Bastila again. "What's your name?"

Bastila couldn t believe Astoria was talking this lucidly. On previous visits, she d either been totally silent, or made no sense at all.

"Bastila. Bastila Phoenix." Telling Astoria the identity of her birth father was completely out of the question.

"Are your parents dead?"

'Oh great.' "I live with my dad." Bastila said evenly.

"MY parents are dead." Astoria said as if Bastila hadn't spoken. She looked at Daphne, and then back at Bastila. "Thanks to you."

The already freezing air in the room dropped another hundred degrees.

Daphne sat on the bed next to her sister and dared to touch her, putting a hand on Astoria's shoulder. "You're not...Upset about it, are you?"  
>"I'm not." Astoria answered Daphne, still staring ahead, at Bastila.<p>

She either didn't notice, or didn't care about Daphne's hand on her shoulder.

"You know you can tell me if you are. I wouldn't be mad at you." Daphne said quietly. "They had to have some redeeming qualities. They...They DID feed us, gave us our own room, bought us clothes, and even took us out to other pureblood homes-"

"I'M NOT!" Astoria shrieked, making both Daphne and Bastila jump.

Astoria froze, then plunged her fingernails into the back of her other hand and started scratching herself vigorously.

"Stop!" Daphne cried, grabbing Astoria's wrist and pulling her clawing fingernails away from her self inflicted wound. A heartbeat later, Daphne realized what she had done and let go of Astoria's wrist.

Bastila didn't know what she should do. She had felt extremely on edge ever since entering the room. She wasn't sure she could stand being here, with a crazed Astoria, for much longer. Bastila's mind was shuddering, so disturbed was she by Astoria. Bastila's palm itched for her wand, and she braced herself for the inevitable explosion of violence from Astoria.

But Astoria didn't explode. She simply lowered her hands and put them on her knees again.

No one moved or spoke for a long time.

"Sis, would you like to come outside with us and walk around? It's a nice day out." Daphne said softly, breaking the silence. She didn't try and touch Astoria again.

Bastila gave Daphne a look. Would St. Mungos even allow that? But then Bastila almost found herself laughing at that thought. She was a girl who went out at night and killed criminals in their homes, and who was constantly breaking dozens of laws at any given time.

If Daphne wanted to take Astoria out for a walk, then she and Bastila would do it with or without the permission of anyone else.

Astoria shrugged. She turned her head to look Daphne in the eyes. "Maybe some other day." She was rubbing at the back of her hand now, and Bastila wasn't sure if Astoria realized she was doing it.

Daphne smiled. "Okay. We'll come visit again soon. Before school starts up again. I promise." She got up from the bed and made her way over to the door. Bastila followed suit.

Astoria startled for some reason. Her eyes were glued to Daphne. "Hogwarts. Maybe I can go someday."

Daphne's smile left her for a second. "Maybe." She replied. "You know you can't tell anyone about what we did, right?" She added after a moment.

Astoria smiled back, but it didn't look right on her face. It seemed like something entirely foreign to her, or something she was just copying from Daphne because Daphne was doing it, and so she felt like she should do it too.

"I'll keep your secret. Don't worry." She paused. An uncertain look came over her face as she looked between Daphne and Bastila, and then it was gone. "You're getting married. You said that when you saved me." Astoria stated to Daphne.

Daphne smiled again. "That's right. If you get better, you can come to the wedding."

Astoria's forced smile returned. "I'd like that. I'm glad you're happy out there, even if I'm not happy in here."

Daphne seemed speechless. Bastila certainly was. Astoria was so LUCID, so AWARE that it was just downright shocking.

Daphne didn't know what to say, so she took Bastila's hand and exited the room with her.

Bastila paused in the doorway. She gave Astoria her best smile. "It was nice talking to you." Okay, so it wasn't the smartest thing Bastila had ever said, but at least she had said SOMETHING.

Astoria gave Bastila her odd, forced smile. "I like you too."

"That went really well." Daphne was smiling from ear to ear and swinging her arm as she and Bastila walked down the hall together, holding hands. "We should stop by some Muggle store and get some ice cream! Then when we get back to your place we should have an ice cream party! Oh, with ice skating! Do you think Sev would let you turn his extension charmed ball room into an ice skating ring? And we could Engorgio some of those trees outside the Manor and do some more climbing!"

Bastila just smiled. She had never seen Daphne so happy before. She had seen Daphne HAPPY, and VERY HAPPY, but she had never seen Daphne EXCITED and BUBBLY HAPPY. This Daphne was a complete departure from the girl she knew, so much so that Bastila had to wonder whether the Daphne beside her was a polyjuiced imposter.

"I thought that was stupid dangerous Muggle stuff." Bastila teased, grinning at Daphne as they made their way through St. Mungos.

"I only said that about the tree climbing!" Daphne countered. "Ice skating is BEAUTIFUL, and even more beautiful when you're the one doing it."

"I don't know, I think you looked beautiful falling on your butt all those times..." Bastila said, still grinning.

"Only because you got to kiss it better later." Daphne answered, grinning now too. "But you know, that's the good thing about magic. We don't have to wait around for winter to get snow and ice." She added, abruptly changing the topic.

"If I knew how to conjure ice cream, I'd thank magic for that, too." Bastila laughed.

"Maybe the conjuring spell for that is in one of those books of yours." Suggested Daphne.

"You really think so?" Bastila said, her voice hopeful. Over the past three weeks she had spent long hours reading through her massive private library of books she had stored in her magical trunk. She was learning and mastering spell after spell. She was learning how to brew poisons and various potions like endurance potions, night vision potions, and even ones that would grant the drinker the strength of ten men.

And Bastila was even learning how to make polyjuice potion.

Of course she knew that she could just go to any potions shop in the wizarding world and buy all the potions ready made. And she HAD, when it came to polyjuice and truth potions for use in their mission to take down Death Eaters. But she had to be prepared for anything, so knowing how to brew them all herself seemed smart.

Daphne gave Bastila a serious look. "I really really REALLY think so. Otherwise I'll be pissed off about not being able to have ice cream whenever I want."

"Why don't we just buy ice cream and store it in that magic self replenishing fridge in the trunk's apartment?" Asked Bastila as they descended the stairs to the lobby.

Daphne rolled her eyes. "We won't always have our magical trunk to fall back on."

"True. And thanks for keeping it safe for me while I was...Gone."

"No problem. Just don't ever leave me like that again any time soon."

"If I know who or what Crystal is then I might be able to try and get her out of me." Said Bastila evasively. She really didn't want to think about the idea of Crystal taking control over her body again. "At first I thought she was just a bi-product of my PTSD..."

Daphne nodded. They were out in front of St. Mungos now. Bastila sat on the steps, and Daphne did the same. "Right. That Multiple Personality Disorder thing you told me about."

"Yeah. I thought that, because of what happened to me as a child, that that's how it could have happened. I wouldn't be the first." Bastila shook her head, drawing in a breath. "But I've been trying some medi-witch diagnostic spells whenever I can get the chance, and I've found out some things that make me doubt that possibility."

"What kind of things?" Daphne prompted when Bastila was quiet for a little TOO long.

Bastila was quiet because she was doing some rapid thinking. Should she tell Daphne about her findings? A part of Bastila thought 'Of course! She's going to be your WIFE, and you don't keep important things from your wife.' but another part of her was thinking 'You don't need to worry her with all of this!'

Both parts had valid points.

But the first won out.

Bastila had NEVER kept anything from Daphne. Not her birth father being Voldemort, not her nightmares, not her past horrors as a child, NOTHING.

And Bastila wasn't about to start now.

"I found out that there's another, smaller, less powerful magical core attached to mine. And my Aura is...Mixed. Blended." Said Bastila finally. "If it were just my mind being fractured off and creating Crystal, I doubt I'd have a second core OR a blended Aura. Whatever Crystal is, she's magic. Whatever this is, however she's gotten herself inside of me, it's magic."

Daphne was silent. She was trying to process this new information. "It sounds as if...Crystal is...Fused with you. Like her entire being is merged with yours." She shook her head, making her short white-blond hair whip around in the shining sunlight. "But that's impossible. Even the darkest of magic, like..." Daphne glanced around, as if checking for eavesdroppers. "Even making a Horcrux can only put a PIECE of a soul into another living thing, and even then, it doesn't transfer the magical core over or anything like that. This would have to be...Beyond dark. Darker than anything the world has seen before."

Bastila sighed. "That's just it, Daphne. I thought the same thing. Whatever this is, having another magical person inside of me, core and all...It HAS to be dark, right? But none of the medical spells I've cast on myself have revealed even a hint of dark magic. Dementors can remove the soul entirely, and that's all a natural ability for them. So I have to believe that there's some spell or ritual out there in the world that can remove an entire magical being and put them into another person."

"I guess it could just be so old of a thing that only a few people know about it." Daphne said, looking as if she doubted it.

"Or an exclusive cult thing." Bastila murmured, thinking of the Death Eaters and their Dark Mark tattoos.

Daphne pulled Bastila to her and kissed her cheek. "I'm sure we'll figure it out." She stood. "Now come on so we can get that ice cream. I'll need help with the Muggle money."

"Britain uses a different currency than America." Bastila protested as Daphne began to pull her along down the street.

"Don't care, you don't have a choice."

"You know how to count! Just add up the numbers on the pounds and coins until the total is equal or higher than the price of the store items."

"Stop being difficult, or I'm not sharing." Daphne said, not even looking back at Bastila.

Bastila was quiet all the way to the store. Though she had been VERY tempted to throw a fit when Daphne had, at one point in their walk, patted her on the head and said, "You're such a good girl".

They soon entered the grocery store, relaxed and care-free.

Neither one of them had noticed the change in the air before entering the store, nor the fact that they were being watched VERY closely by a woman in a hooded cloak standing in an alleyway across the street...

* * *

><p>Kelisia ducked behind the alley wall where, across the street from her, her targets had just disappeared into a store. She focused her mind and magic, and the arm sleeves of her cloak turned into solid metal prosthetic arms. She smiled to herself and brought a small glass sphere out of her pocket, along with her wand. She tapped her wand to the sphere.<p>

"I've found them." Kelisia said, her voice low. "It's just as the artifacts showed us. The barrier is in place, and so are all the enchantments you specified."

Smoke swirled within the sphere before finally resolving itself into the image of Miles.

"The Superior will be pleased to hear this most excellent news." Miles said exuberantly.

"I'll take them now." Kelisia offered.

The image of Miles shook its head. "No, no. What you will do, my dear Kelisia, is continue to hide and to watch. Do not forget that one of those children bested Voldemort. No, this is a job for someone with a little more...Durability."

Kelisia's eyes widened in surprise. "You don't really mean to send HIM in, do you?"

Miles grinned. "Oh yes, I indeed intend to do just that. He is untested, and we will need to know his limitations and abilities for when The Superior gives us the most important command of all. What better way to test him than to drop him into a confrontation with the child that captured Voldemort?"

Kelisia paused. "You don't actually think he stands a chance, do you? You don't think I stand a chance against the girl, either."

Miles shook his head. "No. No one will stand a chance against the girl except for The Superior, it is true. I don't expect us to capture the girl. I'm merely preparing everything for the arrival of The Superior, gathering information so that the problem may be dealt with as The Superior sees fit."

"You want to see how she fights." Kelisia replied after a short pause.

"Oh yes, I very much want to see that. And so much more...But, since you are there and I am not, YOU will need to be my eyes and ears in this matter."

"I wouldn't want to disappoint you." Kelisia tapped her wand to the sphere and placed it back into her pocket. Then she pointed her wand into the sky and began muttering spells in an ancient Egyptian dialect...

* * *

><p>Bastila and Daphne walked out of the store.<p>

"A pureblood witch has successfully purchased your ice cream." Daphne laughed, standing on one foot and twirling around as she stepped onto the sidewalk. She was holding the ice cream tub close to her chest, as if she thought someone might pop out and steal it from her at any moment.

Bastila hadn't been paying much attention to Daphne. She was more interested in their surroundings. Something was wrong, but, looking around, Bastila couldn't tell what. The answer came to her when Daphne, who had been walking back in the direction of Snape Manor, seemed to run right into a wall made of thin air and bounced off of it, giving a little gasp of shock.

Daphne fell backwards onto her butt, throwing out her arms to brace herself as she hit the sidewalk.

Bastila was there in an instant. "What happened?"

Daphne shook her head and brushed her hair out of her eyes. "No clue, but whatever it is, I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to have happened..." Her eyes suddenly went wide. She looked left and right, and then her face was full of sadness. "The ice cream..." She pointed to the ice cream tub. She had had to let go of it to catch her fall. It was in the street, covered in grime, dirt, and other gross things. And it had also broken open.

"Never-mind that." Bastila helped Daphne to her feet and directed Daphne's attention to where she had seemingly walked into thin air.

The air in front of them seemed to shimmer and become a wall of glass. Whisps and waves of what looked like dark smoke appeared and traveled through the glass.

Daphne put her hand out against the glass. This was a mistake. The glass crackled with magical energy, and a black bolt of lightning sparked out and connected with Daphne's hand. Daphne pulled her hand away quickly, swearing the whole time.

"Let me see it!" Bastila took Daphne's hand and stared. Daphne's palm was scorched black, her hand was shaking, and it looked like something that should be hurting a LOT more than it was. But Daphne wasn't reacting as if she were in any extreme pain. More like she had been hit with a powerful stinging hex.

"What the hell is this?" Daphne said. She was still staring at the glass.

"I don't know. It's not like any magical ward I've ever heard of before." Bastila frowned. "Daphne, are you doing okay? I mean, does your hand REALLY REALLY hurt? Because that injury looks severe."

Daphne shook her head, tearing her eyes away from the glass and down to her shaking hand. "It doesn't hurt too badly compared to what my parents used to do to me. But it LOOKS like it should hurt more, doesn't it?" She said with a laugh. Her face grew serious the longer she stared at her hand.

"I can't move it." Daphne said, swallowing hard.

"What?" Bastila said sharply.

Daphne shook her hand around, then slapped it against her thigh. "I can't move my hand. Nothing! I can feel it, I can feel the pain, but I can't move the damn thing!"

"Okay, just...Stay calm." Bastila said quickly, drawing her wand from its holster, which was concealed under the sleeve of her sweater. "I'm going to see if I can heal it, or at least make it better."

Daphne jerked her hand away from Bastila. "You aren't a medi-witch! You're not even a nurse! You could make it explode or something."

"I really doubt I can do any more damage to it than has already been done, now give me your hand." Bastila said through gritted teeth.

Daphne shook her head vehemently. "No."

"Damnit Daphne! You'll trust me with your life, but not your hand?"

Daphne froze. She would have answered, if not for a crackling sound from above, and the lightning bolt that appeared overhead.

The lightning bolt was yellow, and completely unnatural. It flashed down, slamming into the ground and causing a small explosion that left a smoking crater in its wake.

"What is going on here?!" Daphne cried. Still, she had the sense to bend down, pull up her pants leg and draw her wand with her good hand.

"Isn't it obvious?" Called a husky voice that belonged to a woman. "It's a trap."

Bastila saw the woman standing on the roof of a building across the street, behind the smoking crater. Part of the roof was inside the barrier, and that was where the woman was standing.

Bastila pointed her wand up at the woman. But she wasn't going to attack. 'Imperio.' Bastila thought.

'Jump off the roof.' Bastila directed into the woman's mind.

The fall wouldn't kill her immediately, whoever she was, but it would really hurt and incapacitate her, and give Bastila some personal satisfaction.

Being under a combination of Bastila's iron will, raw power, and desire to see the woman HURT, the woman had no choice but to obey. She hit the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street with a loud crack. Her legs folded up under her as she landed, and crumpled.

From far off, Bastila heard Daphne call her name, and then she was tackled to the side. They hit the ground hard. A wave of fire raced past them.

Bastila cursed herself as she got to her feet. She had been so FOCUSED, so INTENT on hurting that woman that she hadn't been paying attention to anything else.

And now the Imperius Curse's hold over the woman was broken.

The woman disapparated without a word.

But Bastila and Daphne had a bigger problem now.

Literally.

He, it, was huge. Seven feet tall, muscled and broad shouldered. His head was encased in a simple, worn down cloth bag. His clothing was similar. Just a large, oversized cloth draped over him with holes cut for his legs and arms. His skin was tanned, almost black. And in both hands he held a massive blade that was easily as long and as wide as an average person. Bastila could have used it as a surf board!

Bastila and Daphne stood, side by side, with wands pointed at the man. If he could even be called that.

The man stared back at them. Or at least, he had his face pointed in their direction.

'Avada Kedavra!' Bastila thought. She watched the green bolt of light flash out from the tip of her wand, watched it travel across the distance, and then the most unexpected thing happened.

The man turned the massive blade in his hands and jerked it up over his chest, faster than anyone should have ever been able to react, and caught the killing curse on the flat side of the blade.

How could he even do that? Bastila hadn't SPOKEN her spell, hadn't even MOVED, and HE had that bag over his head! It should have been an easy, assured kill on a blind, unsuspecting person! How had he even known where her spell was going to hit, or when she had even fired it in the first place?

It was impossible. Just plain impossible.

"Diffindo!" Daphne cried. The cutting curse. Her specialty.

The spell struck the man's leg, creating a large gash. But it wasn't severed, and no blood came pouring out of his gaping wound.

"What is he?" Daphne said, fear creeping into her voice.

"That's a good question. I don't think he's Human, for starters. Or if he is he's-" Bastila's words were cut off by a powerful growling from the man.

He swung his blade in a downward arc, slamming it into the ground.

Another line of fire came their way.

Bastila and Daphne cast shield charms at the same time. Both non-verbally.

The flames struck their joint shield and exploded into a broiling fireball, much like the result of the Confringo spell. For nearly ten seconds, all Bastila could see was fire. The flames had completely enveloped her and Daphne's shield.

The flames died away, and Bastila and Daphne lowered their shield.

"We need to figure out a way to get this ward down." Daphne said quickly.

"I know, but I don't know anything about wards beyond what they-" Bastila had started to respond, but at the sight of a massive blade coming at her like a javelin, she dropped straight to the ground. It was all she COULD have done. Well, MAYBE she could have tried throwing up another shield, but Bastila really didn't want to test if her shields were strong enough to block that massive, powerful magical blade.

"-What they do." She finished, getting to her feet again. She shot a Confringo spell straight ahead through the hazy smoke, where the blade had come at her from. She turned around and found the hilt of the blade level with her chin. The thrown weapon was embedded in the wall of the store. Bastila gingerly rubbed her hand over her throat at the realization of the close call she had just had. Decapitation definitely wouldn't have been a good way to die.

"And this ward is way too complicated and powerful for its own good." Daphne remarked, sending a blasting curse down the street, where it hit the glass and had absolutely no effect at all.

"Why aren't any of the Muggles seeing this?" Bastila said suddenly, looking around.

"Magic." Daphne answered. "They won't see, hear, smell, or touch anything if this ward doesn't want them to. Hell, they could even go right through it and not necessarily pass THROUGH IT, if you know what I mean."

Another growl came from somewhere in the smoke, and then the giant man, or creature, whatever he was, came charging at Bastila and Daphne. When he was right on top of them, he swung an arm out at Bastila, and then at Daphne.

Bastila rolled left, gracefully going under his arm and coming up out of his reach.

Daphne hadn't known WHAT to do. She was just STANDING there. Bastila watched the man's arm hit Daphne in the ribs and sweep her aside. Daphne went flying as if she had been struck by a moving car. She sailed through the air until she hit the ground and rolled, finally coming to a stop several feet away.

When Daphne didn't get up again, Bastila feared the worst. But then, Daphne was moving, pushing herself up and getting to her feet again.

The giant man was still on the offensive. He pulled his blade out of the wall as easily as taking a toothpick out of a sandwich, and immediately swung it at Bastila.

Bastila, who had been caught up watching Daphne, barely managed to protect herself. She conjured up a wall of thick ice. Bastila didn't wait to see what the results would be. She was already running in the opposite direction, trying to get SOME distance between herself and the monster of a man. She heard the crackling of ice behind her, but, surprisingly, NOT the sound of ice BREAKING.

So her ice wall had held up against the blade.

'Good to know.' Bastila thought with relief.

When Bastila reached the wall of the ward, she turned around, spinning on her heel to face the man again. Her ice wall was still standing. She went wide, running all the way to the other side of the street to keep everything in her field of view. She could see past her wall now.

The man was squaring off with Daphne, who had her shield firmly in place.

Bastila took the opportunity. She cast the killing curse once more, carefully aimed so that it would hit him in the back of the shoulder, but NOT hit Daphne if it missed.

Bastila's spell didn't miss.

But neither did it hit.

The man had spun around to face her so fast it was as if he had teleported. One moment, his back was to her, and the next he was staring right at her, even though Bastila knew he couldn't STARE because he had a damn bag over his head!

He spun his blade like the hand of a clock going around, and Bastila's death curse was totally blocked and dissipated.

Daphne cast an Avada Kedavra of her own, and, just like with Bastila, the man whipped around to face Daphne and blocked her spell with the flat of his blade.

Bastila decided to change tactics.

'Stupefy.' She thought quickly.

The red jet of light hit the man in the back. He gave a low growl, but completely ignored it otherwise. The stunner hadn't even affected him.

And that's when something clicked in Bastila's mind.

But she had to be sure.

"Daphne! On the count of three, hit him with a stunner!" Bastila called.

Three seconds passed, and both Bastila and Daphne cast their spells.

And both spells hit.

A stunning spell to the chest and back, and the man didn't even flinch.

But neither did he do anything to protect himself.

Just like he hadn't with Bastila's previous stunner, and just like he hadn't done anything when Daphne had cast her cutting curse on his leg.

'He only defends himself if the spell is lethal to him.' Bastila realized. 'A stunning spell would take a normal person out of the fight, and so would a well placed diffindo. But him...He just shrugs it all off.'

But that still left the little matter of how he even knew what spells they were casting, or when they were casting them, and from WHICH DIRECTION they were casting them from when he had that ridiculous bag over his head.

"What was the point of that?" Daphne called back. She was trying to edge around the giant man, but he kept sidestepping, keeping himself in front of her.

"He's ONLY blocking the killing curse." Bastila replied. That was all she needed to say. A moment later, Daphne came to the same conclusion Bastila had.

"He won't block any of our other spells because they aren't going to kill, or seriously injure him."

The giant man let out a roar and suddenly charged at Daphne, apparently having had enough of the waiting game.

"Oh shit!" Daphne shouted, breaking into a run to her left. But the man was impossibly fast, and he had closed the gap between them in two seconds.

His massive blade cut through the air as they ran, aiming to remove Daphne's head from her body. Daphne ducked under the blade, avoiding the decapitation.

Bastila thought VERY quickly. "Avada Kedavra!" The spell was aimed for the man's ribs. And just as she had predicted, he stopped his pursuit of Daphne, turned on the spot and blocked the death curse. Which gave Daphne time to keep on running toward Bastila.

"Avada Kedavra!" Bastila said again. The spell flew past Daphne. The man blocked it once again. Daphne had reached Bastila now. But when Bastila cast the curse for a third time, for good measure, the man, who had begun to charge them, blocked the spell with his blade again.

And he didn't STOP moving this time. He kept running at them even as he brought his blade up to block the spell with a guttural growl.

He had caught on to what Bastila was doing.

"Daphne! Ice skating." Bastila said quickly. Daphne gave her a confused look.

The man was now very close.

Bastila summoned all her power, pointed her wand at the ground and said, "Glacius!" The flawless, perfectly smooth ice spread out across the ground under her feet. Within a second, the entire area inside the ward was covered in ice. And not just the street. Bastila's ice reached up the walls of the nearby buildings. And then it went even further than that. The ice traveled up along the glass of the ward, curving up along with the dome until it reached the ward's ceiling.

The giant man hadn't stopped coming at them.

Bastila shoved Daphne aside, hard. Daphne slid across the ice, and kept sliding until she hit the brick wall of the store.

Bastila had waited another half second for the giant man to bring his blade sweeping toward her ribs before she threw herself to the side, sliding along the ice until she hit the wall next to Daphne, who had already gotten to her feet.

"That was a brilliant idea, Bas. But now it's going to get really cold in here, really fast." Daphne said by way of greeting.

"Then we better kill this guy quicker than our bodies can start shutting down." Said Bastila as she got to her feet.

"Yeah, about that..." Daphne pointed at the man.

He was scrambling around on the ice, trying to get to his feet. He had been thrown off balance when he had swung his blade. Felled by his own momentum. He tried several times to get to his feet, but slipped and fell back onto the ice again, letting out growls of frustration.

"He doesn't seem like he's ever been on ice before." Bastila noted.

"Avada Kedavra." Daphne said randomly. Her spell flashed out, but the man had, again, somehow known it was coming and had stopped his struggling long enough to pull his blade over his body and protect himself. Then he was back to trying to figure out how to stand up on ice. Very slippery, smooth ice.

"You didn't actually think that would work, did you?" Bastila said, giving Daphne an exasperated look.

"I thought he'd be too thrown off with this ice problem to even think about blocking it." Daphne said with a shrug.

"Apparently he's really good at multi-tasking."

"Alright, so lethal spells are out. How do we kill someone with non-lethal spells?"

Bastila shook her head. "We don't. We'll just have to try and contain him somehow, and then work on getting past the ward."

"Would freezing him work?" Daphne said.

A loud roar suddenly came from the giant man, bringing Bastila and Daphne's attention back to him. He was standing now. He was holding himself upright by the handle of his weapon. The blade was stabbed down into the ice.

"He learns way too fast for his own good!" Daphne moaned.

"Freezing him is worth a try." Bastila said. She aimed her wand at the giant man and said, "Glacius." Ice shot out from her wand, flying across the street, twisting around like strands of ribbon. Then the ice wrapped around the man, solidfying and growing around him. He struggled, roaring and growling, but he couldn't fight against the ice. And then it was over.

He and his blade were completely encased in a block of ice.

"YES, YES YES!" Daphne crowed, throwing her hands up in the air like a cheerleader at a sporting event. "Giant monster ZERO, sexy Slytherin duo ONE!"

Bastila just smiled, feeling a wave of relief wash over her. It was over. "Now we need to work on getting out of here before we freeze to death." She told Daphne.

Daphne was instantly subdued and serious. "Right."

They went over to the ward, careful not to touch it. Then they took turns blasting it with every spell they knew.

Some ten minutes later, they lowered their wands in defeat and sat down on the ice.

"We're dead." Daphne sighed.

"At least we're taking him with us." Bastila said, jerking a thumb over her shoulder at the giant man in the ice block. "Magic or not, he still needs to breathe. Actually...He should die before we do. He might even already be dead."

Daphne laughed. "At least we have that going for us."

Ten more minutes passed.

"Now that I'm complaining, but why is it taking so long to die?" Daphne asked, shivering.

Bastila giggled. Cold smoke left her lips. "If only..Glacius had a specific counter spell. I could just wave my wand and POOF. Ice gone."

"We could try incendio. Melt the ice away."

"That would take way too long. And we'd die in that time anyway." Bastila countered. She shifted on the ground, and found that her jeans were stuck to the ice and that she could barely feel her legs and arms.

"Well, what about-" Daphne stopped in the middle of giving yet another suggestion. Behind her and Bastila's, there was the distinct sound of ice cracking. Daphne looked at Bastila with wide eyes. "Please tell me that what I just heard was my imagination."

"If it was, then we're imagining the same thing." Bastila said quietly.

More crackling. Louder and louder the sounds became, until there was a hissing noise, which was followed by the sound of ice scattering everywhere.

Bastila closed her eyes, debating whether she even wanted to turn around and look. A loud roar followed by the sound of Daphne getting to her feet and groaning, "...You have got to be fucking kidding me..." settled the matter for Bastila.

Bastila had just gotten up and started turning around when heavy footsteps could be heard approaching her. She spun all the way around and found the giant man in front of her. And his huge blade was coming down to cleave her in two from head to foot.

Bastila's eyes noticed Daphne standing behind the man. Their eyes connected, and then Bastila threw up her shield.

The massive blade hit Bastila's shield. Hit it, struggled against it, and then broke through and kept going down on its arc.

Just at that moment, Daphne cast a spell.

But it wasn't any spell Bastila had ever seen before. And to her inner witch, it DEFINITELY looked, and felt, like a dark spell. Or it was Bastila's inner movie-goer who was trained to think that anything black or purple was dangerous and evil.

And Daphne's spell was both. It was black with a purple aura. The spell went flying at the man, and it hit its mark. It struck him in the back, and a flash of dark purple signified that it had done what it was meant to do.

But just WHAT it had done, Bastila didn't know. She only heard the man let out an incredible, wounded growl, saw his body go completely rigid, which kept Bastila from knowing what it was like to be sliced in half, and then she saw him literally bend over backwards.

And he kept bending, bending until his head was between his legs, scraping the ground. He was completely bent in half. And then he lost his balance and fell over, still growling madly.

Bastila made eye contact with Daphne. Daphne's face was completely stricken. Full of terror, disgust, and rage. Her eyes were glazed over, as if she were somewhere else. Bastila knew that look all too well.

Bastila suddenly understood where Daphne had learned the dark spell she had just cast.

Bastila approached the fallen giant man, who still struggled and squirmed around, trying to right himself. Daphne got closer, too.

But the girls didn't get TOO close, least he lash out with the blade that was still held in one hand.

"Incarcerous." Bastila said clearly.

"Incarcerous." Daphne breathed, still with the same mix of intense emotions on her face and the heartbreaking look in her eyes.

And then it was done. They had the giant man bent in half, and his legs and arms tied together. Then, as one, they pointed their wands at his hands, sending cutting curse after cutting curse into his wrists until they were completely severed.

Then they did the same thing to his feet.

"Do you want to...Take the bag off his head?" Daphne said, making eye contact with Bastila again.

Bastila shook her head. "I don't give a damn who or what he is. He's dead."

Daphne shrugged, then pointed her wand down at the giant man again.

Bastila pointed her wand as well.

"Avada Kedavra."

A flash of green struck the giant man, ending his roars and growls.

But neither Bastila nor Daphne had cast the spell. They looked across the street and saw a man striding toward them.

"Oh, very well done. Yes indeed...I hadn't expected such...Teamwork. Such ingenuity! You've provided me with invaluable data!" The man exclaimed, clapping his hands together. He held a black wand in his left hand. He was dressed in a long black coat. His hair was a wavy blond, and his eyes were a sharp blue.

Bastila's warning bells were going off like crazy, and she turned her wand on the man. "Who the hell are you? How did you get inside the ward, and why are you here?"

"Oh, my name is of no importance to you, I assure you. Nor is my method for crossing the ward." The blond man said in a smooth, almost smug voice. "Though the reason I am here here is, of course, entirely relevant to the two of you."

Bastila didn't lower her wand. "Spill it."

The blond man's eyes widened almost imperceptibly. He grinned and crossed his arms. "As you wish. I am here to take the two of you OUT of this little warded off area, this little arena, if you will. You are the clear victors, after all, and HE is not." His eyes went to the folded in half giant laying dead between the two girls.

Bastila didn't like this person at all.

"If you can really take us out of here then do it." Daphne said harshly, her eyes narrowed at the man. She was as on guard as Bastila.

"MUST you be so hostile?" The man sighed, uncrossing his arms. "Very well then. If you will follow me, you will be out of here within a few short moments."

Bastila looked at Daphne. Daphne looked back at her.

"Are we going to go with him?" Daphne said.

"I'm don't like him. But if he's at least going to stay true to his word and get us out, then I'd be willing to follow him at least that far." Bastila replied. And she had to admit that the man didn't seem intent on hurting them. Not yet, anyway. It was obvious to Bastila that the man was working with the cloaked woman from before. His very presence inside the seemingly impassible ward made that very clear.

And besides that, he HAD practically admitted to it with his little comment about this being an arena, and getting "Valuable data", whatever that meant.

Whoever these people were, however they had created this ward, and however they had summoned that giant monster...

What did they want? Why were they doing this?

Too many questions.

Bastila let her traces of frustration leave her.

She looked at the blond man. "Take us out. But if you do anything funny, I'll use the killing curse on you in a heartbeat." Then she let her face and voice relax. "OR I'll let my Girlfriend here slice you to pieces. She has a natural affinity for the cutting curse." Bastila added sweetly, giving the man a beautiful smile.

The man's calm, smug demeanor faltered for the briefest of moments. But only a moment. "I will ensure that you make it out of here without any trouble. You have my word on that, my dear girl."

"Fix my hand, while you're at it." Daphne held up her blackened, limp hand.

The blond man sighed theatrically. He looked from Daphne to Bastila, and back again. "Very well. It is a simple enough injury to heal..."

Just as he had promised, Bastila and Daphne were out of the ward several minutes later, and Daphne's hand was back to normal. And, predictably, he had disapparated the moment they were out.

They were quiet on their walk back to Snape Manor. But when they reached the front door to the Manor, Daphne gave Bastila a very pointed look. "You are SUCH a trouble magnet. The next time I want to go get some ice cream, I'm not taking you with me."


	3. Preparations For A Party

"I want to have a party." Bastila said, coming into her father's room in the morning on the first day of July.

Severus raised an eyebrow at his adoptive daughter. He was brewing a potion, as usual. "What would be the occasion?"

"No occasion." Bastila smiled her best smile. "I just think a little summer party would be nice."  
>She paused. "But if you really need me to justify it, my birthday IS coming up soon, AND I figured me staying inside is safer than me going out and possibly getting attacked by whoever trapped Daphne and I in that ward last week..."<p>

Severus sighed and returned his focus to the bubbling potion in front of him. "True enough. Your turning fifteen next month IS cause for celebration...And your staying indoors is appreciated...But I am hardly what you would call a party animal." He added with a chuckle.

"I know you're not the type to hang out with a bunch of partying teenagers." Bastila allowed, laughing too. "But my fellow Hogwarts students aren't the only people I'll be asking to attend..."

"Miss Nighting- I mean, Sarah?" Severus said quickly, looking up from his potion with an almost hopeful look on his face.

Bastila let a smirk come over her lips. "Maybe..."

"I shall help you arrange everything you need for this party, but you must get Sarah to attend." Severus replied instantly.

"Done! I'll start asking around to see who's interested right away! Thanks daddy!" Bastila gave Severus a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek before disappearing out into the hall, leaving behind a smiling Severus Snape.

Bastila was downstairs a few minutes later, making floo calls to her wizard and witch born friends and acquaintances, and making phone calls to the muggle borns (with the help of the phone book, in the case of the muggle borns). She had managed to get a few yes's, several maybe's and a small number of no's. She had called everyone she could think of: The Parvati twins, Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom, the Weasley family, Harry Potter, Cedric Diggory, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, Seamus Finnigan...

The list went on, and her calls took up the better part of an hour. And then, after a very brief conversation with Elsa and Daphne, Bastila had only one call left to make. A call she sincerely hoped would have a positive outcome.

Bastila threw floo powder into the fireplace, spoke the address, and stuck her head in.

She could see the inside of a small house. Very tidy and neat, but also very dark and barren. The living room only contained a single chair. It was lit by candles, and there was a small table that held only one photograph, almost like a shrine. But Bastila couldn't make it out in the darkness. Bastila was shocked at what she was seeing. She had never been to Sarah's house, and now Bastila thought she knew why Sarah had never deigned to invite her or Severus over. If houses were truly a reflection of their inhabitants, then Bastila had just gained a whole new insight into the inner workings of Sarah Nightingale. A depressing, unsettling insight.

Was this how Sarah really felt inside, despite anything she had ever said or done? Did she feel as dark and desolate on the inside, like her house? Was she really so...Barren, in the depths of her heart and soul?

The appearance of Sarah herself in front of the fireplace brought Bastila out of her thoughts. Sarah looked like she always did. Happy and relaxed, her exterior so gentle and soft.

"Bastila?" Sarah said, surprised. She frowned slightly. "Is something the matter? Is it Daphne?"

Sarah had examined Daphne's hand once she had learned of the injury that had been caused by the ward. But Sarah hadn't found anything amiss. The mysterious blonde man had seemingly healed Daphne's hand completely, removing whatever cursed damage had befallen her.

"Daphne's fine." Bastila assured. "Nothing's wrong with anyone." She took a breath, and smiled. 'Here I go...'

"I'm having this party in a few days, on the fourth of July to be exact, and I was wondering if you maybe wanted to come." Bastila paused, gauging Sarah's expression. The nurse was smiling patiently, waiting for Bastila to continue. So Bastila did. "Daddy would really like for you to be there."

'Wrong wording on that, Bastila.' She told herself a heartbeat later. 'Don't make it sound like it'll be some soul crushing thing for Sev if Sarah can't go.'

"I mean, I'd like you to be there, Daphne would like you to be there, and Sev would REALLY like you to be there, but it's not a big deal if you can't make it. It's just a party." Bastila amended.

"I don't get very many social invitations." Sarah said after a long pause.

"Is that a yes?"

Sarah laughed. "Yes, it's a yes honey. What time am I expected to show up?"

Bastila smiled. "Oh, any time between five in the evening and three in the morning will be perfect."

"You're expecting the party to last that long?" Sarah said, incredulous.

"It IS summer, and I AM a teenager." Bastila replied, her smile turning into a grin.

Sarah laughed again. "Well then, I'll try to be there at five o'clock sharp. But I might leave the party early."

"Perfect!" Bastila squeaked, elated. She blushed and quickly reigned herself in. "I mean...Great. I'll see you there."

They exchanged their good-byes, and Bastila pulled her head out of the green flames and ended the floo call.

Bastila looked around her living room. Her thoughts went to the rest of Snape Manor, and its dark, cluttered interior. If she was going to make this place party-worthy in just three days...

She was going to have her work cut out for her.

* * *

><p>Kelisia strode into the underground chamber, kicking the door in without breaking her stride. Kelisia hated coming in here. It was so brightly lit, so neat and clean, and so utterly MUGGLE.<p>

Unfortunately, this was where Miles spent most of his time, in his self-proclaimed "Laboratory".

Miles himself didn't even turn around to face Kelisia, despite her unexpected intrusion. He merely sat at the desk in the middle of the room, his attention completely on the scrolls, talismins, and other objects of a rather ANCIENT nature that were laid out in front of him.

And of course, the twelve year old girl with red eyes was standing beside him, completely motionless.

"WHAT is happening?" Kelisia rasped, finally tiring of being ignored. "Ever since we made our move against that Phoenix girl, you've been shut in here more than usual." Kelisia looked at the girl, and found that the girl was looking back at her.

The girl was paying attention to Kelisia. The girl's scarlet eyes were observing Kelisia, glinting with curiosity.

Kelisia stepped up behind Miles, put her foot on the back of his chair and spun him around to face her. "I want answers, Miles! What have you been doing down here? And why is SHE with you?" Kelisia threw a half glance at the scarlet-eyed girl, indicating the girl with her eyes.

Miles stood and very deliberately removed Kelisia's foot from his chair, his face calm and impassive. "I understand your frustration, my dear Kelisia, but what I have been doing here will be essential to the next stage of our plans."

"And what is the next stage of our plans?"

Miles grinned. "First came the analysis, the tests, and now, soon, must come the main experiment..."

Kelisia stamped her foot. "Tell me. Or did The Superior order you not to?"

"If you are waning in your convictions, then I shall of course put your reservations to rest." Miles paused before continuing. "As you are aware, we made our first contact with Bastila Phoenix a short time ago. I, specifically, took that opportunity in stride."

"What have you done?" Kelisia demanded impatiently.

"Oh, I merely took that opportunity to delve into Bastila's mind. I found some very interesting things in there, you know. And I couldn't resist collecting some of her memories..."

Kelisia's eyes immediately went to the scarlet-eyed girl, then back to Miles. "You're not going to do this again. Not with Phoenix."

"Oh? Why not? After all, it worked quite well for you..." Miles replied, his grin widening as he, too, spared a glance at the girl beside him.

"It took days to accomplish, and I don't see the point in doing this for Phoenix." Kelisia argued. "It will never have her strength or abilities. It will only have her knowledge. Her memories and her body. It would be just another useless puppet to serve us. Nothing special."

The child with scarlet eyes winced at Kelisia's words. "You really think that I'm worthless?"

Kelisia felt a twinge of remorse, and wished she could take back her biting words. Or at least, she wished that the girl hadn't been here to hear Kelisia say what she had said.

Miles stroked his chin in thought. "True, the puppet will not share her counterpart's proficiency when it comes to spell-casting, nor will she share Bastila's power and abilities, such as Parseltongue. Yes...Knowing how to do something and being capable of doing it are two very different things."

"Its' magical core will be average. Its' soul will be manufactured. And both will always be fluctuating." Kelisia replied. "And that's not even to mention the physical changes your little experiment causes. So unless you've found some way to create a more stable ENVIRONMENT for those memories you stole, this is a waste of time."

Miles snapped his fingers and smiled. His eyes lit up as he picked up an old scroll and held it up for Kelisia to see. "This was discovered in a certain cave in South Africa. It was written QUITE a long time ago by the native population of witches. Crude and cannibalistic though they were, they have left behind other, ahem, IMPRINTS in the sands of history."

Kelisia sighed. "How will voodoo dolls help you stabilize your puppets?" She asked.

"True, voodoo dolls are what these witches are most known for, but they also dabbled in something else, and this scroll is the absolute proof if it, and it is where I have found the answer to my problems. These witch tribes found a way to tap into the magical energies of the world itself, and pour that magic into an individual." Miles was speaking quickly now, his voice full of excitement. "The truly fascinating part is their process of trial and error. You see, each soul, each magical core, and each body, can only take so much magic. All three work together with their magic to create a stable, magical being. It is quite...Precise. It seems as if the amount of magic required to keep all three stabilized and harmonous varies from person to person. If one has too much magic added to their soul, for instance, that will destroy or degrade the soul. It is the same for the physical body itself, and for the magical core."

"The reason for the fluctuation and side effects." Kelisia surmised. "You screwed up how much magic is needed for each of them."

"Yes, yes I did." Miles agreed smoothly. "And before this scroll was located, I had known of no method that would allow me to actively increase or decrease the amount of magic within a being. Why, it is quite fortunate that this has come into my hands, otherwise I would have had to scrap our little Kelisia here and start over from scratch..."

The flaming haired, red eyed girl startled at that, and turned angry, smoldering eyes on Miles. But she was silent.

"You can stabilize her." Kelisia said quietly, her eyes boring into Miles, the same as her little doppelganger. Kelisia had no idea whether or not she would step between Miles and her doppelganger, or stand aside, if Miles ever ever decided to kill the girl.

Kelisia didn't know why, but that scared her.

"And my new puppet, once I have created her, yes." Miles continued. "And it will only take me but a few hours, rather than the many days of trial and error I went through in creating YOUR puppet. With the information I have obtained from the scroll, the process will be much, much quicker and more efficient."

"Why do you need to create it to begin with?" Asked Kelisia.

"The Superior has informed me that I make this a priority, and I am to await further instructions upon completion of the puppet." Miles answered. "I do not presume to know what The Superior has in store for any of us..."

'That could become a problem.' Kelisia thought as she left the room. 'I've followed you so far, Miles. I've done everything you've ever asked, and I've payed for most of it with nearly my own life. But if it all turns out to be for nothing, for The Superior to dispose of us when we're done being useful to him, just as WE have disposed of the people who have stopped being useful to US...'

Kelisia came to an abrupt halt in the corridor. She felt sharp disappointment at the realization that her doppelganger hadn't followed her out of the room. Felt a flash of hurt that the girl hadn't even acknowledged Kelisia as anything but a...What, exactly?

Kelisia didn't even know.

Then she cursed herself for having these feelings. 'She's a twisted creation. Just a puppet.'

But no matter what Kelisia told herself, it did nothing to make her feelings go away.

More and more Kelisia was beginning to realize that what she had WANTED from joining up with Miles and what she had ACTUALLY GOTTEN were two very different things.

* * *

><p>It was the next day after Bastila had called her schoolmates and told them about her party. Bastila, and Daphne, who was staying over for the next few days for the party, were in Severus's ball room, and they were ice skating.<br>"Why does he even HAVE a ball room?" Daphne asked, gliding over the ice covered floor on her ice skates. Real ones, this time. Not makeshift magic skates created by Bastila, like they had used last winter.

Bastila shook her head as she passed Daphne by. "This place wasn't always Snape Manor. It used to belong to some rich pureblood family. I forget the name. But they died, and Dumbledore got the place for Sev and me way back when Sev won my court case."

"Cool story." Laughed Daphne. She lifted an ice skate off the floor and twirled herself around. She immediately lost her balance and ended up sprawled out on the ice, cursing.

Bastila tried not to laugh. She really did. But she ended up laughing all the same.

"How do you make this look so easy?" Daphne complained as Bastila pulled her to her feet.

"Years of practice." Bastila answered honestly. "I'm actually a little rusty." She added as an afterthought.

"Really? You should be ashamed of yourself." Daphne teased.

"You just have to keep at it until you get it." Bastila replied, smiling as they glided around the room, hand in hand. "Just do it again and again and again, and then do it a few more times."

"Now you sound like Elsa. She's always on me with that heartwarming, encouraging stuff."

"You haven't exactly had a parental figure talk to you that way before. It's good for you, trust me. My mom used to yak my ear off with that sort of talk, too. And look at me now."

Daphne grinned. "If you're the result of that kind of talk, then I'll really start taking Elsa's words to heart."

"I'm glad it's working out for you, with her." Bastila said, giving Daphne's hand a squeeze.

"Me too. It makes a nice change."

"You should try to mend things with Draco." Bastila said after a short pause.

"With a good blasting curse to the face?"

"I'm serious, Daphne."

Daphne met Bastila's stern gaze with cool eyes. "So am I. Look, I don't hate him. I just hate how he is. As soon as he changes I'll give him a big hug and make peace with him, but until then, I don't want anything to do with him."

Bastila sighed. She pulled Daphne to a halt and faced her fully. "I understand where you're coming from with this, but I don't think Draco will change without us there for him. We're his friends, and he needs us."

Daphne's eyes flickered for a moment. Then she said, "That's his problem."

Bastila wasn't deterred. "We need to take out Lucius. Draco is such a...A slave to his father, as much as you were to your parents. I think if Draco could get out from under his father's thumb, it would really help him."

"We still haven't determined if Lucius is a real rehabilitated Death Eater or not."

"Rehabilitated or not, he's clearly still a twisted, cruel man who bribes government officials and treats his son badly." Bastila replied, her voice soft. "He has to go. For the good of everyone, and for Draco. Just like all the other former Death Eaters."

Not a single Death Eater they had killed so far had been truly on the side of good. Had not given up on torturing and murdering. Had not left the service of Voldemort.

And the more Death Eaters Bastila and Daphne killed, the more they ruined the Death Eater's plans to rescue Voldemort from the bowels of the Ministry.

"We'll do it during the school year." Daphne said finally. "When we can slip away without being noticed."

"There's a chance that someone will start to notice a pattern."

Daphne looked confused. "What pattern?"

"Think about it. The murders of Death Eaters has ONLY happened at night, during the school year. If we do nothing all summer, and then go through our entire fifth year taking down the rest of the Death Eaters..." Bastila explained. "Don't you think someone, I don't know, maybe Dumbledore, will notice that and realize that the people killing off Death Eaters are Hogwarts students?"

From the look on Daphne's face, it was clear that she had never thought of that at all. "We'll just have to take down a few Death Eaters over the course of the next two months then." She said, her face brightening.

"I don't know if that will be possible. You said it yourself, there's no way I'll be able to slip away from Sev, or you from Elsa, and NOT have them realize that each day we slip away, a Death Eater ends up dying."

Okay, that wasn't exactly what Daphne had said, but it was close enough.

"We'll figure something out." Daphne said, smiling ruefully.

Bastila kissed Daphne quickly on the lips.

"We always do." Bastila agreed.

After another hour of ice skating, Daphne announced that she was tired of it and fed up with falling over, and they took off their ice skates and left the ball room, going up to the second floor to Bastila's room.

"A lava lamp is a..." Bastila's words left her as she stepped into her bedroom. Daphne bumped into Bastila, then looked over her shoulder and into the room. She was similarly speechless.

Nyssa was laying on Bastila's bed, curled up around several dead rabbits. And one not so dead one, which Nyssa immediately remedied by biting into its neck and shaking it around like a dog would a chew toy.

"What are you doing?" Bastila asked after she had found her voice.

Nyssa froze, then looked at Bastila and Daphne, the rabbit still held in her powerful jaws. The rabbit fell back onto the bed with the others, and Nyssa curled herself up even tighter and brought her wings in to cover the rabbits up.

*I'm eating dinner. And desert. And my midnight snack.* Nyssa sniffed. *Do you mind?*

"You're eating rabbits ON MY BED!" Bastila said shrilly. "Haven't I told you that you have to eat outside? That's the rule, so why aren't you following it?"

*Your bed is more comfortable than the ground.* Nyssa replied. *I deserve a nice place to eat as much as you do, Bastila.*

Bastila let out a woosh of air. "Okay. That's fair enough I guess. But did you have to pick my BED? Now it's going to have rabbit guts, rabbit blood, and dead rabbit smell all over it for who knows how long."

*I'm sorry. I thought you were a witch, and could clean it all with a wave of your wand.* Nyssa hissed, her voice low and irritated.

Either Nyssa was really upset about having her meal interrupted, or she was just being cranky today.

"It's the principle of the thing. You KNOW that's where I sleep, you know that dead animals can give me diseases or whatever else, and out of the millions of places in this mansion to eat your rabbits in peace, you chose my bed." Bastila said, letting some irritation creep into her own voice now, too. "It's a thing called being respectful and considerate of others."

*I'm just a snake, you can't expect me to know every little Human social rule.*

'Oh, so she's going to pull THAT card.' Bastila thought angrily. "Get out of my room then. If you think you're JUST A SNAKE, then you don't have any business hanging out in a HUMAN room."

Daphne put an elbow in Bastila's lower back. "Don't piss off the giant snake that's capable of ripping your head off..." She muttered.

That got Bastila to actually pause and consider that. What WOULD happen if she were to piss Nyssa off? Surely she wouldn't try to bite Bastila or something crazy like that, would she? Nyssa was sentient and highly intelligent, but she also still held basic snake instincts, and often reacted as any other snake would at times.

Would Nyssa actually try and hurt Bastila if Bastila pushed her too far?

Bastila suspected that the answer was a resounding "Yes". If Nyssa was pressured and cornered, she would probably attack. And her intelligent side would probably attack because that's what angry sentient beings did: They lashed out in their anger.

"I've changed my mind. You can eat on my bed if you want." Bastila said quickly. "Whenever you want, really. Daphne and I will be in one of the guest rooms if you need us. Sorry to bother you."

*I'm glad you see things my way.*

"Yeah, me too. So...Um. Enjoy. Bye." Bastila backed out of the room and shut the door. Bastila didn't look at Daphne as they made their way down the hall to the guest room, and when Daphne opened her mouth to speak, a smirk on her face, Bastila instantly said "Not a word." through gritted teeth.

They entered the guest room, went over to Bastila's trunk, unlocked the blood lock and then climbed down inside, into the apartment.

But not before Bastila had cast an invisibility spell on the outside of the trunk, making it completely invisible to anyone who might enter the guest room.

Mainly Severus, since he knew Bastila had obtained this new trunk, but had no idea what KIND of trunk it was, or about any of the enchantments it held.

But making the trunk invisible was also because of Nyssa.

If Nyssa was going to stay angry or irritated at Bastila, then Bastila didn't want to make it easy for the serpent to find her if she decided to act on those feelings.

Of course, Bastila had no idea how long Nyssa's hard feelings would last, since she had never actually made Nyssa angry before. Was Nyssa the type to let things go, or was she going to hold a grudge?

Bastila didn't want to find out.

* * *

><p>Several hours later, in the dark of night, Bastila woke up. But it wasn't because of any nightmare, and it wasn't a sudden awakening. It was smooth, peaceful, and calm. Her awakening was as gentle and soft as her surroundings. The pillows, the warm blanket and sheets, and of course, the warmth radiating off of Daphne's body that was pressing up against Bastila from behind.<p>

Bastila brushed her hair out of her eyes, smiling to herself at the warmth she currently found herself enveloped in. But she couldn't stay laying here forever, as much as she wanted to. Her body was demanding that she visit the bathroom. Bastila carefully extracted herself from Daphne's arms, climbed out from under the blankets and got out of bed. Of course, it was pitch black in the apartment, seeing as there was no sunlight to come into it, and no windows. But Bastila didn't need any light to navigate the apartment. She knew it like the back of her hand.

Still, she stood there in the darkness for a moment. The floor was cold to her bare feet, and the air itself was sending chills over her body, as Bastila was clad in only her underwear.

Bastila went to the bathroom and suddenly found her head pounding and threatening to split open, and then she was puking her guts out into the toilet. She shuddered and gasped, clutching her head in her hands. It lasted several minutes until it was finally over.

'Where did that come from?' She thought, wiping her mouth and shakily getting to her feet. She waited, and waited, and then she was back to normal. Whatever had come over her was past. Bastila shrugged it off as a one-off thing and left the bathroom.

Bastila returned to the bed to find that Daphne was awake, and that Daphne had turned on the little battery powered lamp that Bastila had bought and set on the nightstand weeks ago.

"Bathroom?" Daphne yawned, arching her back and stretching. The blanket slipped off of her, and Bastila was treated to the sight of the lamp-light bathing Daphne's legs and belly in a soft orange glow. Daphne was wearing an oversized T-shirt and underwear. Bastila regretted not putting on her shirt herself before going to sleep. Daphne HAD told her that she would just end up cold in the middle of the night. Again. And Bastila hadn't listened. Again.

"Yeah." Bastila answered Daphne, climbing back into bed beside her.

Daphne giggled, scooting up behind Bastila again and wrapping her arm around her, letting her hand rest across Bastila's chest.  
>"Maybe you should try going to the bathroom BEFORE we make love next time."<p>

Bastila sighed at Daphne's massaging hand and relaxed against her. "Mmmm. I'll think about it..."

Daphne giggled again, then she turned off the lamp, plunging them into darkness once more.

Bastila's smile returned as she lay there in the dark, in Daphne's warm, loving embrace. She hadn't been with Daphne like this in weeks. She had almost forgotten how utterly calm, secure, and happy she could feel when she was with Daphne. Truly with her, as Bastila was now.

When Bastila was truly with Daphne, her entire world became perfect, peaceful, and so full of bliss. When she was with Daphne, every worry, fear and doubt that she had was washed away, and all was right with the world...

* * *

><p>Bastila smiled as her latest guest walked out of the fireplace, which was burning with green flames, and into the Manor. "Welcome to the party!"<p>

Cedric Diggory smiled back. "Thanks." He looked around the dimly lit Manor for a moment, taking in the other students milling about, drinking and eating and laughing and chatting away with one another. "This is great, Bastila." He finally said. "I think we all really need this. Especially after..."

Bastila didn't need to use Legillimency to know what he was refraining from saying. "After the night of the third task" She finished for him, even though, technically, she hadn't been present for the entirety of that night.

"Yeah." Cedric nodded grimly.

"Sorry. Food and drinks are to your left," Bastila pointed the long table out to Cedric, smiling again. "Wizards Chess, Exploding Snap, some Muggle card games and video games are set up in various guest rooms on the second floor. And the Quidditch pitch is behind THOSE doors." She pointed at the doors to the ballroom.

Cedric laughed. "You have an indoor Quidditch pitch?"

Bastila laughed, too. "You don't think I'm being serious? Go on and have a look. I knew I was going to be having a few Quidditch players over, so I took the liberty of buying a few broomsticks and some Quidditch equipment." She explained. "One extension charm and a few conjured stands later and the ballroom is now a ready and waiting Quidditch pitch."

Cedric hesitated, still wondering if Bastila was pulling his leg or not, then started off toward the ballroom doors.

Bastila saw Cedric stop by Harry, Dean, and Ron on the way over. The boys all looked at Bastila, then they followed Cedric to the ballroom.

Bastila smiled to herself and turned to stare out the front doors of the Manor, her eyes occasionally flickering back to the fireplace.

Harry had arrived by car, having been driven here by his aunt and uncle, and Hermione had said her parents had agreed to drive HER here, so Bastila couldn't rule out the notion that other Muggle-borns would arrive by car, too. Although Dean Thomas, a Muggle-born, had come here via the Floo.

"Is this everyone?"

Bastila turned, then smiled at Daphne. "Still waiting on more." Bastila answered.

"It's only been an hour." Daphne said, grinning. She held a mug of butterbeer in each hand, and she offered one up to Bastila.

Bastila took it, thanking Daphne with a kiss. "I know. I've just never hosted a party before. I've never even been to one, not counting the Yule Ball."

Daphne sipped her butterbeer, then gave Bastila a smile. "If there's one thing that I've learned from all those pureblood social parties, it's this: It doesn't matter how many people show up, what matters is whether they're good company or not."

"So are the people here good company?" Bastila asked lightly.

Daphne shrugged. "As long as Draco doesn't show up, yeah."

Bastila sighed. "I wish you'd let that go already."

Daphne was quiet for a long time. "I wish I could." Then she smiled and pulled Bastila close, kissing her lips passionately. "But let's not argue about it again, okay? At least not here and now. This is a party, and I don't want us snapping at each other the whole time and ruining it."

"Okay." Bastila breathed. She stared at Daphne in the dark, watching the party lights flash over Daphne's shining hair for a moment before kissing Daphne back, not even caring that she had sloshed butterbeer on herself in the process.

"Do you think we could have brought Astoria?" Daphne asked after they had pulled apart.

Bastila shook her head. "Sarah said that Astoria wasn't in a good state of mind when I Floo'd her a few hours ago."

"That's what I mean." Daphne said, biting her lip. "A lot could have changed in a few hours."

Bastila didn't know what to say. Since their last visit with Astoria, having found her totally coherent and lucid, Daphne had gotten her hopes up far too much about her sister's condition. So when Sarah had told Bastila about how badly Astoria had been behaving lately, and Bastila had in turn told Daphne, it had been a crushing blow to Daphne's heart.

"I don't know, Daphne. But Sarah should be arriving soon, so maybe you could talk to her about Astoria personally."

Daphne sighed heavily and leaned into Bastila's arms. "Right."

Bastila, being careful not to spill more of her butterbeer, wrapped her arms around Daphne, simply holding her close as they stood together.

"You're a sight for sore...Well, you know how the saying goes." Said a new voice.

Bastila and Daphne broke apart and turned to face the newcomer.

A girl their age stepped into the Manor through the front doors, the cool evening air breezing behind her outside, whipping her short black hair around and fluttering her long-coat like a cape. Her hair came down just below her eyes.

Bastila felt confused. This new girl was completely unknown to her. Bastila hadn't even invited her, so who was she? A relative of someone Bastila HAD invited?

But no...Even though the girl was altogether unfamiliar...The more Bastila looked at the girl, the more Bastila felt as if she somehow knew her at the same time. But from where?

"Sorry to be rude, but who are you? I'm sure I've never met you before in my life, and I didn't invite you." Bastila said bluntly. "Gate crashing isn't something people look kindly upon."

The girl tilted her head to the side, her bangs falling away from her dull, bluish-white eyes, and then she grinned.

"We were good friends in your...Previous life."

At the girl's words, something clicked inside of Bastila, and old memories suddenly rose up in her mind.

A girl helping Bastila to pick up her school supplies after Bastila had been tripped and her things had come spilling out of her backpack...

A girl sitting next to Bastila in a classroom on a sunny day, smiling for a reason Bastila could never figure out...

A girl walking home with Bastila after she had been pelted with rocks and wood-chips...

A girl with short black hair and faded blue eyes.

Bastila nearly dropped her butterbeer as her mind returned to the present. Her eyes went wide as she stared at the black haired teenage girl before her. She blinked several times, and the girl was still standing there.

"I can't believe it...Serenity?" Bastila gasped.

Serenity sniggered. "Nice to see you again, superstar."


End file.
